One month ago, we had a busload of farmers and stockman from Argentina stop by PCC Headquarters for a visit. I have heard from a few of them since they returned home. If you are a beef producer, the following email from Pen Gunningham should will give you something to think about.
Dear Kit,
I was in the group of Argentine farmers who visited your cattle ranch last month. It was a very interesting visit, as you have a different approach to cattle breeding than what appears to be the norm in the US. The group and I have a specific question about the end product… beef.
One evening we were treated to a steak dinner. The beef came from an Angus herd of excellent looking cattle and was eaten in a restaurant exclusively provided with beef from this herd. The opinion was unanimous – very edible and tender but totally tasteless. On other occasions at different locations, the opinion was the same. On my return to Buenos Aires, to make sure I wasn´t dreaming, I went to a prime beef restaurant, and had a steak of good texture with a taste from a completely different world.
Our big question is why?
It can’t be the breed as the beef came from an excellent Angus herd. Possibly not enough grass fed. Maybe it is the result of a long period of intensive over-fattening in a feedlot. When visiting a feedlot, we were told that one group of cattle had 60 more days to go – but, in our mind, they should have been slaughtered yesterday. Maybe it is a cooking problem, but that would seem unlikely.
We would be interested to hear your opinion. I invite you to come to Argentina and eat some tasty beef. I have a son and a daughter who live in the US, but seldom eat beef. Now I know why. Surely it can`t be worse than chicken?
Sincerely, Pen Gunningham
My mind was filled with many thoughts. However, before attempting to share my opinions, I decided to send this email to PCC Discussion Group. I’m glad I did. There are several experts in this group who know what they are talking about. I will share just a few of their comments. I learned a thing or two – and I think you will too. This goes along perfectly with our Make BEEF Great Again campaign. There is no better place to start than with flavor!
- I think excessive fattening in the feedlots is a big part of the problem.
- As someone who travels extensively, I can attest to the fact that nearly all beef throughout the USA and Canada is bland and tasteless. In my opinion, this is because a very small percent of the beef sold in the USA and Canada is grass-fed or grass-finished.
- Bland diets (rations) lacking in diversity lead to bland flavored beef. The beef may be tender and juicy but it will only taste like whatever it was seasoned with. The same is true with chicken breasts.
- Beef needs a diverse forage-based (mineralized) diet to create flavor.
- One of the primary reasons for very poor flavor profiles and poor texture in feedlot beef, as well as commodity poultry and pork, is the heavy use of DDGs in the rations. DDG’s have virtually no bioflavonoids and cannot depart any flavor to the end product.
- DDGs create a very poor, almost mushy, texture. It also creates a way-out-of-whack omega-6 to omega-3 ratio. We’ve seen ratios as high as 55:1. That’s deadly!
- Since every feedlot feeds a “least cost” ration, there is no such thing as a “typical” feedlot ration. The incorporation of cheap DDG has been very bad for beef’s perception by the consumer. That is why Impossible Burger, Beyond Meat, etc. have been able to make significant inroads.
- The so-called allergies to beef are not really an allergy to the beef but to the traces of DDGs and other residues that are in commodity-fed beef.
- When commodity beef is compared to properly finished grass-fed beef, the grass-fed beef has far better ratings for initial flavor, sustained flavor, initial juiciness, sustained juiciness and texture.
- Beef will continue to lose market share to other proteins and fake meat until we decide to take charge of our industry and provide consumers with a product that is truly flavorful, tender and healthy.
Consumer perception of beef is eroding much faster than I ever thought possible. For good reason, more and more of today’s consumers are becoming disenchanted with industrial agriculture and the way conventional beef is finished. If we do not make a concerted effort to Make BEEF Great Again, the beef industry will eventually become a fraction of its former self. Unbeknownst to most cattlemen, the commodity beef industry has shrunk nearly 20% in just the last 15 years.
The obvious solution to this problem is grass-finished beef. Notice, I said “grass-finished,” not “grass-fed.” Cattle were designed to eat high-fiber forages that most animals cannot utilize. Cattle were not designed to eat corn or DDG. Grazing cattle are extremely beneficial to the environment. Industrial agriculture and confinement feeding of livestock are harming the environment. Grass-finished beef has a much better omega-6 to omega-3 ratio – which will greatly improve consumer health. On top of all that, grass-finished beef tastes great! All you need to add is a little salt and pepper.
Can’t we have just one bullet point about the effect of animal slaughter age on flavor?
Just one?
Is there a rule against it?
Maybe it’s not relevant?
What if a customer asks about animal age at slaughter and all I can do is spout the bullet points and tell them what is wrong with nearly all the beef in the store?
Are they really going to grasp all the bullet points above, or will they throw up their hands and grasp the packages of pork or chicken?
Flavoring pork after slaughter is a widely accepted and expected practice. Its been that way for centuries.
Poultry is fast catching up to pork.
If pork and poultry customers want a different flavor, they just buy a different flavor.
I’m not much for rosemary chicken, though.
Charlie
I and people I know are all complaining about beef not having any flavor anymore. It doesn’t matter whatI pay for it. I buy grass fed thinking it will be better but it is not. I have given up on it. I notice the same thing with vegetables. I think huge farms for a lot of the problem. How are we to be healthy?
Yucky Phooey! I am a good cook and hadn’t purchased beef in quite a while, but got hungry for a good burger and meatloaf. Needless to say neither one had any meat flavor in it. Everything is tasteless and that makes for a sorry high priced product purchase. Do I hear “Soyent Green” people flavored crackers???
Yes, I totally agree! Beef has no flavor! Not a real hamburger fan. But when I was younger they had a good beef flavor. Now most of the time, which isn’t often I get sick literally from eating hamburgers. Steaks, roasts, spare ribs, none have a beef flavor. Chicken and pork are not much better. At this point I can’t eat spaghetti with hamburger without getting sick. This needs to change. I don’t eat beef any longer.
In Canada I don’t know where our good Alberta beef goes but we can’t find it in the stores. All we can buy is foreign beef from Panama or somewhere, tough and tasteless. Similar situation with our sockeye salmon. Only from fish farms and no flavour. Vegetables packaged in Guatemala which are rotten when cello pack is opened but looked nice in package. It seems that all our excellent meat, fish and vegetables are exported but we are only allowed to buy terrible foreign grown food. No wonder children are not nourished and people are getting sick. Small farms are flying off the shelves just outside the cities as people try raising food themselves. It’s a ridiculous situation. I hope a federal election might change things slightly.
Agree with the above people. Meat sucks.. all of it. Chicken, beef and pork. Either it tastes like urine, chloride, or nothing.. and it smells odd. Where is the fat marble in the beef? Where is the fat that helps to cook it over the grill? Like all it is a red slab of tasteless glob.. I can go to Mcdonalds for that already.. Grocery stores don’t have much beef these days on the shelves.. and GOOD LUCK FINDING A STEAK WITH A BONE IN IT AND NICE WHITE FAT… gone, all gone.. Doesn’t help that LAB GROWN nasty is coming.. makes me not want to buy any, because who REALLY KNOWS what they stick in the package NOW???.. maybe its already lab grown.. there is no fat and no bone.. SO?? Hmmm.. Yeah, too bad. I have great memories of tasty steak and other meat meals growing up.. not anymore… its all really gross… shame on the industry.. greed, greed and more greed… FOR SHAME.. God gave you all wonderful animals to consume, and they are all messed up.. genetically too.. it is a sin.
Unfortunately most of good beef are going to restaurants and unaffordable suppliers to the lower middle class and suppliers to processed beef patties even Angus are relying on unfinished grain fed sources as it fits their profit levels. Ground beef used to be a staple for low income families, now it is being dumped on us as a so called prcessed meat patty that has been poorly processed by many processers.
You cannot find Ground beef in the stores at a fair price as it is all pretty much doubled in price and not available to the general public.
Example I would be shopping in Alliston Zehrs 3 months ago and get the family pack of ground beef for $13. now it’s running approximately $28.
Such greed has to stop.
I don’t read anything here about the difference in aging in recent years. At one time butchers used to hang meat in a cooler for 15-26 days. This is called dry aging. Today they use the ‘wet’ method which means the meat is wrapped in a plastic bag and supposedly ages more quickly. Somewhere around 8-10 days I believe. So, it doesn’t have to hang for 2-3 weeks. Aging costs money because space is needed. In fact, the meat today is tough and tasteless. Even in restaurants because their meat is not aged any differently.
Aging makes meat tender and substantially supplements the taste. Forget about blaming what the steer ate. Grass fed is no better than grain fed re dry aging.
As to chicken and pork also being tough today,who knows. This meat is never aged.